The Fire Inside
by xfirefly9x
Summary: Tony/Kate. A collection of short fics based on the relationship between Tony and Kate.
1. The Fire Inside

**_The Fire Inside_**

He smiles at her and she melts inside. She always does. She can't help but fall that little bit further when those dimples show on his face and his lips twitch up. He has a nice smile, a really nice smile, and who is she to not adore it? No one smiles like Tony.

She smiles at him and his heart is set alight. The kindling already on the pile burns and expands and consumes him. It bathes him in flames that are out of control. He can't help it. There's something about her, unlike anyone else he has ever met that sends him floating on a wave of joy every time she so much as looks his way. And her smile... No one smiles like Kate.

_fin._


	2. Sweet Dreams

**_Sweet Dreams_**

"Sweet dreams, Katie," is the last thing Kate hears before the lights in the building are switched off. The faint glow of the few computer screens left turned on illuminates the otherwise darkened room and she waits a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dimmed light.

She turns over on the makeshift bed she'd concocted behind her desk to get into a more comfortable position and avidly avoids obsessing over the fact that this is the second time in one week that she – and Tony – have worked back so late that they haven't seen the point in going home and crashed at their desks instead. She doesn't obsess over the fact that the work isn't all that important and could be left for later.

Rather, she wonders passingly what everyone would think if she brought in a mattress for similar occasions that may crop up in the future.

She shifts restlessly as the reason for her thoughts – the hard floor – becomes more unbearable. At this rate, she's going to get as much sleep as she would have had she taken the time to drive home: not much at all. Damn.

She groans softly to herself, sits up and goes about rearranging her sleeping materials. Maybe she'd been lying on some thing other than the few sheets and bunched up sweaters on the floor. Nothing. It's clear. She returns the sheets and sweaters and then lies back down.

At the sound of _his _voice, her entire body goes rigid, before relaxing once again.

"Kate?"

She breathes. Takes another breath.

"Can't sleep either, huh?" she asks.

An indistinctive yawn makes its way to her from behind Tony's desk.

"With all that tossing and turning you're doing? Are you kidding?" It's phrased lightly, teasing, but Kate senses the veiled annoyance.

"Sorry," she says. "Maybe I should just head home and sleep in a bed for once."

His response is immediate. "No, stay here. I don't mind the extra noise. It's almost nice knowing you're there, within throwing distance for the pillow fight I'd get going if we actually had pillows."

"Sure, okay then." She shrugs and settles back down, smiling slightly. "Night, Tony."

"Night, Kate."

She doesn't fall asleep until a few hours later, choosing to listen to Tony's even breathing instead.

_fin._


	3. Barely Breathing

**_Barely Breathing_**

He couldn't think. He could barely breathe. His mouth was dry.

He stared at Kate. Swallowed.

"You're going to _what_?" he exclaimed. Loudly.

She smiled gravely at him and tucked her hair behind her ears. "I'm thinking of quitting, Tony. It's nothing definite, but I'm thinking about it."

"But," he managed, "why?"

She sighed. The look on her face suggested she'd been waiting for him to ask. "I…it's personal," she settled on.

"Ari? It's not because of him, is it?"

She didn't answer.

"Look, Kate. You're a good agent. You can't leave! I'll have no one to have food fights with!"

"McGee will still be around."

"Well, he's no fun."

"Tony. Please don't make this any harder. I don't even know if I'm going to leave for sure. I just have a really bad feeling that if I don't, something bad will happen."

He had no response for that. Rather, he chose to sit still and let the numbness in his gut wash over him. After a moment, he stood and headed for the elevator. Behind the closed doors, he sunk back against the wall and covered his face with his hands.

"This cannot be happening!"

_fin._


	4. On The Line

**_On The Line_**

"Tony," Kate said, finally looking up from her desk to fix cool eyes on her partner.

"Kate," he said back.

"What do you want?"

Her response came in the form of a casual shrug along with _that_ annoying smirk…

"What makes you think I want something, Kate?" Tony asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, I don't know, Tony," she began. "Maybe the fact that you've been standing there for almost ten minutes! That could be it."

Silence.

"If you're not going to tell me what you want, go away. Please, Tony! I have a lot of work to do." She pointed at the stack of paper that had accumulated on her desk over the past week to prove her point.

More silence.

"Tony!" she warned, glaring at him.

He put his hands in the air in front of him, palms up. "Okay, okay! I'll talk!" He glanced around them quickly.

"Paranoid much?"

"Ha, ha. Just let me say this before I lose my nerve."

Kate raised an eyebrow and turned her full attention to Tony. She waved him on. "Continue then."

"Kate," he began. "I was wondering if you'd like to go out to dinner with me sometime. There's a nice restaurant down the road from my place that has this pasta dish with chunks of chicken…"

Scoffing, Kate shook her head and reached for the next page of the report she was required to finish. She didn't see the hurt in Tony's eyes, nor the way his shoulders slumped.

"I'm not joking, Kate. I want to go to dinner with you. You see, I really like you. I've tried not to, but I can't help it…"

Kate frowned and glanced up. "You're serious?"

"Dead serious, cross my heart. Were my grandmother dead, I'd swear on her grave." He crossed the shirt over his heart with two sweeping strokes of his index finger. "C'mon, Kate. I'm putting my heart on the line. Say 'yes'."

She studied him for a moment longer and then cautiously nodded. "Sure. Okay, Tony. I'll go with you for dinner. But if this is a joke…"

"It's not a joke. I'm completely serious."

"Well, in that case," she smiled at him and started yet again on her paperwork, "I can't wait."

_fin._


	5. Ability To Amaze

**_Ability To Amaze_**

"You really are amazing, DiNozzo," Kate said in disgust. She tore her eyes from him to study her fingernails intently. Less emotional scarring that way, she figured, if only she could erase the image of Tony readjusting his pants right in front of her. And not for the first time. He'd done it before several times.

"Why thank you, Kate. I pride myself in my abilities to amaze."

She could see him grin out of the corner of her eyes.

He didn't care.

Her eyes widened slightly.

_Well, duh! _

"I know you do," she said flatly. "That's what makes you you."

"Yup!" He shifted slightly and then straightened up. "All done," he informed her.

She let her gaze drift cautiously back to him.

"You know, you're amazing too," he said quietly.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What? You are!"

She glared some more. Pursed her lips.

He shrugged and wandered off towards the crime scene.

"Wait!" she called. "What did you mean, I'm amazing too?"

He kept walking.

"Tony?"

_fin._


	6. She Was A Hero

**_She Was A Hero_**

**_Notes:_**_ Tag to "Twilight"._

"She was a hero, our Kate was," Ducky murmurs. "She could have hesitated for one moment before putting her life on the line for Jethro, but she didn't. She very well might have saved his life. And that next bullet? That next bullet should not have been hers. She didn't deserve to die. She didn't deserve any of this Ari business."

He hands Tony a heavy silver instrument that Tony can only imagine the purpose of.

"You should go home and get away from all of this," Ducky continues, jabbing the air with another of his tools. "You should take some time to grieve. I know how close you too were."

Tony swallows and shakes his head. "If it's okay with you, I'd rather stay. I can't... I can't deal with this right now. I need to see this guy, this bastard who killed her, caught."

Ducky glances at him, concern in his eyes. "Don't we all."

Swiping tears from his cheeks, Tony waves Ducky on. "So, our Kate was a hero," he manages.

"Oh, that she was..."

_fin._


	7. Hope Yet

**_Hope Yet_**

He watches her discreetly from behind his desk, his forehead furrowed in concern.

Ever since she arrived back from the latest crime scene she'd visited, she'd been unnaturally quiet and it's scaring him.

An open file sits on the desk in front of him, but he can't remember a word of it, though he's read it at least 15 times now. He wants to throw it across the room; he wants to _hurt_ it, because while he has work, he has no excuse to see her (and to comfort her).

He forces his eyes to read once more over the lines of black text that have long ago become indistinguishable to him. That's when he finally loses it.

He grabs the first scrap piece of paper he comes across – because he knows full well that he can't destroy the actual file if he wants to live – and screws it up into a ball, tossing it across the room as hard as he can.

It bounces off the head of a passing marine, who aims a glare at him but moves on.

"That's it," he says, leaping out of his seat, all but ignorant of his paper missile victim. "I'm done sitting while you're like that."

She glances up at him for the first time in an hour, startled as he walks purposefully to her desk and takes her hand. "Tony!"

He ignores her protests and pulls her towards the door. "We're going for lunch," he calls over his shoulder to Gibbs and anyone else who cares enough to listen. "And we," he tells her, "are having a little talk."

She looks about ready to protest but he puts a finger up to silence her. "Ah! You get no say in this. We're talking and we're binging on ice cream."

She smiles at the last part and lessens her protests. He takes that as a good sign.

There is hope yet.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You know it's illegal to kidnap your co-worker, don't you, Tony?" she asks, flatly.

He looks at her as if he's bored and the irritation at being pulled away from her desk rises in her chest again, despite the alluring thoughts of ice cream.

"Tony?" she tries again.

He doesn't bite. Damn.

She sighs in frustration and lets him lead her on in silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I killed him," she says with a slight grimace. Her words seem harsher now that she's said them out loud, but now that she's started, she can't stop. "I aimed my gun, pulled the trigger and now he's dead. I couldn't…I had to…"

Tony places a hand on her arm, cutting her off. "You had to," he confirms with a nod. "What you did was the right thing given the situation." He pauses as if to allow her time to digest that and then squeezes her hand gently. "I'd have done the same," he very nearly whispers.

She clamps her eyes shut firmly to keep from crying. Jaw clenched, she takes several deep breaths. Steady. Calm. One. Two. Three.

She opens her eyes again to find Tony watching her, concern written all over his face. A half smile curls her lips despite her distress. She likes this protective side of Tony. If only the circumstances weren't so bleak. She sighed.

"I know I did what any agent would have," she finally says – might as well confide in him fully now that the dam has been unleashed. "It's just hard. Killing someone… It wasn't on my to-do list today." It's a weak joke, but it's something.

Anything less and she's afraid of what Tony might do to make her feel better. Anything less and she's afraid of what _she'll_ do.

"You'll be okay," Tony tells her. He strokes the back of her hand with his thumb and she realises they've been holding onto each other for almost 10 minutes.

She gently prises her hand free, missing the warmth and comfort immediately but knowing to give in to it would only lead to trouble. "We'd better finish these before they melt."

Tony smiles softly at her and nods, "yeah."

They resume eating their ice cream, each falling into their own thoughts or lack thereof. Tony is the first to break the silence.

"I'm here for you, you know," he says, "if you need it."

She smiles and wipes ice cream from her mouth with the back of one hand. "I know," she tells him.

To herself, she thinks…

There is hope yet.

_fin._


	8. Like Magnets

_**Like Magnets**_

_Something always brings me back to you_

_It never takes too long_

_"Gravity" by Sara Bareilles_

It's gravity – or not quite gravity, but rather some other unseen force that drives them together like magnets. They snap apart as if repelled and then when they turn even just a sidelong glance back to the other, the connection is made once again. It's an impossible bond to break from for more than a short period of time. For all their lives it will be a constant.

Eyes meet, warm brown on ocean blue. Smiles form on faces, small and tentative at first and then wider as what they leave unspoken is communicated through looks. He places his hand over hers and then slowly shifts it, entangling their fingers. They are turned upside down,, floating, drifting, and then as quickly as it came the moment ends.

Theirs is a relationship with many such ups and downs.

"You're gonna be okay, Kate. We'll have you all healed up and back between my sheets in no time."

And as with gravity there are two opposing forces.

"Dream on, DiNozzo."

Their smirks are identical; they are halves who have found their counterpart.

"Oh, you know I will."

_fin._


	9. Should Have Asked

_Spoilers for s2 finale._

_**Should Have Asked**_

"I should have told you this sooner,' he tells her, brushing hair back from her eyes, "but I really, really like you. I should have been harder on myself and asked you..." He breaks off. It's like speaking those words has set off a trigger and that same trigger has filled his throat with a heavy lump.

Without moving his hand from her, he moves back a little bit, away from the coldness of the morgue table. "I should have asked," he adds. "I should have just freakin' asked before... before!"

"Tony."

"I should have asked you!" He yells at her body and curses the way it doesn't move. He curses himself for being such an idiot and letting his emotions get the best of him. And then he decides he doesn't care.

"You're gone," he says. "You're..." He turns to look at Gibbs. "She's gone."

"Yeah. Yeah, she is." Gibbs lingers there, a grim look on his face.

"Why? Why her? Why did that bastard have to choose her?"

"He knew how much it would kill us - all of us - if anything was to happen to her," Gibbs says quietly.

He sighs and feels some of the fight go out of him. The pain in his chest is no less intense though and tears are pricking at his eyes. "Kate. I should have..."

"Hey now." Gibbs takes three long strides towards him and pulls him into a hug.

His tears fall freely down his face. "She's gone, boss."

"Yeah. And we'll get through this, okay?"

He nods mutely and stares at the patch of ground behind Gibbs' shoulder, not caring that his tears are soaking his bosses' shirt.

Gibbs pats him on the back and then steps back. "Let's go get a beer."

"It's ten in the morning," he points out, incredulously.

"Yes. It is. And we're gonna go get smashed."

He stares after Gibbs, who makes his way towards the elevator and then turns around.

"Well? You coming?"

Glancing back towards Kate's body, he swallows. He doesn't want to leave her. He shouldn't leave her after what happened. He should be there to protect her body like he couldn't protect her life.

"Well?" Gibbs repeats.

He nods once, slowly. Reluctantly. "Yeah, boss. Coming." Alcohol will only provide temporary relief but, he decides, it'll do for now.

_fin._


	10. Just Once

_Spoilers for s2 finale._

_**Just Once**_

She was special. Every day he knew her. Until the end. She was the best. She didn't deserve to die the way she did. No one deserves to die like that.

Even as each new moment passes him by, he can see her in his mind, smiling and happy that she saved Gibbs, and then suddenly _gone_, her expression frozen on her face and a bullet through her forehead.

It shouldn't have happened. Ari, that bastard, should have been captured long before it got to that point. They should have worked harder. They should have done more.

But they didn't.

She was special, not just through the time that he knew her, but for every second she breathed air. She was special. His only wish was that he had told that to her. Just once.

_fin._


End file.
